Such a device is in particular intended to fix, on a guide tube of the “I Tube” or “J Tube” type, a bend limiter mounted on a flexible pipe. The guide tube is mounted for example secured to a floating surface assembly.
Such a device is advantageously used in a hydrocarbon exploitation installation in an expanse of water comprising a bottom assembly fixed on the bottom of the expanse of water, and a floating or submerged structure such as a naval surface support, a semi-submersible platform, a floating vertical column or a ship. The installation includes at least one flexible line connecting the bottom assembly to the structure.
The flexible line is for example a flexible fluid transport pipe, referred to as a “riser”. Such pipes are for example tflexible line described in the normative documents published by the American Petroleum Institute, API 17J and API RP 17B, well known by tflexible line skilled in the art.
More generally, the flexible line may be a composite bundle or a set of electrical and/or optical cables (umbilical).
The attachment device of the aforementioned type is in particular used during installation and connection of the flexible line on the surface assembly. A device of the aforementioned type is for example described in WO 98/23845.
The flexible line described in this document is provided with a stiffener fixed on the flexible pipe by frangible pins.
An axial attachment device of the stiffener is mounted at the lower end of the hollow tube. This device comprises radially deployable hooks to allow the passage of a retaining collar for the stiffener. When the stiffener is inserted into the tube, the hooks pass below the collar and then retain the stiffener.
The flexible line may next be detached from the stiffener by breaking the frangible pins.
Such a device is not fully satisfactory. In fact, to place the hooks, it is necessary to operate on the attachment device with a plunger or a remote-controlled vehicle. Furthermore, this does not make it possible to pre-stress the locking device.
Furthermore, the locking being done by two opposite hooks, its precision is not optimal, and the device does not make it possible to offset any alignment drifts during the insertion of the stiffener into the guide tube.
One aim of the invention is therefore to obtain a device for attaching a first element to a retaining flange of a second element, in particular a retaining element for a flexible line in a guide tube that is particularly easy to use, while also being very reliable and not using any operation involving a plunger.